RH Chicago opened in the former Three Arts Club at 1300 N. Dearborn, and its 70,000 total square feet over six floors includes retail, a coffee and pastry shop, rooftop park, performance stage and a wine bar.

Restoration Hardware said its 2-month-old Chicago flagship, which blurs the lines between retail, hospitality and home, is "well on track to exceed" expectations, with its food and beverage operations doing particularly well and serving more than 450 people a day.

The California-based home furnishings retailer gave the update when it released third-quarter financial results this week for the period ended Oct. 31.

"We could not be more pleased with the early results out of our recently opened next-generation design galleries in Chicago, Denver and Tampa — each well on track to exceed our expectations," Gary Friedman, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

RH Chicago opened Oct. 2 in the Three Arts Club at 1300 N. Dearborn Parkway, and its 70,000 total square feet over six floors includes not only retail but also a coffee and pastry shop, rooftop park, performance stage, a wine bar and a new glass- and steel-enclosed garden courtyard cafe that, for the first time in the history of the now-renovated 1914 building, is open year-round.

The Chicago store, located in a largely residential area in the city's Gold Coast neighborhood, also was discussed in an earnings call with analysts Thursday.

During the call, Friedman said the Chicago store was Restoration's "best-performing gallery."

Friedman characterized the Chicago store, in a historic but formerly run-down building, as "probably the most debated real estate deal in the history of our company because people thought, 'You're going into a residential neighborhood? There's not a retail store for five blocks. Are you crazy?'"

"One, the gallery is located in a residential neighborhood, not in a retail district or center," he said. More importantly, "the gallery has our first foray into hospitality," and its food-and-beverage operations are on pace to do $5 million a year in business, Friedman said.

"We're feeding about 450 to 1,200 people a day," he said. The food operations are a collaboration that includes Chicago restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff.

People line up outside the store on the weekends to get a seat in the cafe, Friedman said in a video posted on the company's website.

A version of this article appeared in print on December 14, 2015, in the Business section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Restoration Hardware may surpass expectations - In 3rd-quarter report, company says it `could not be more pleased'" —
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